Moly Lube

[chris mabbott]

I’m always trying to improve the wheel so to speak, mostly with various lubricants that I like to try.. Just for experimental purposes 😈

I have nothing against watch/clock lubes, I frequently use the synthetics (oil), but the greases it seems, are not infallible to drying out or failing to do their job over the long haul.
I say long haul because, I have a few PWs 🙄 and even though I love to take them apart and get personal with them, it’s not something I want to do every three years. My watches are carefully stored and pampered 😆 Hell, if I had to be reincarnated as a watch, I would want to be my watch

So I want a grease that will stay put, stay loose and do its job damn it, that’s not a lot to ask….is it?

Anyhow, in my quest for the perfect grease, I’ve been trying various grades of Moly… In fact, the tube I purchased three years ago, which will last for another twenty+ has not separated nor leaked its juice, its still solid, within the tube, small tube.
I took a PW apart recently to check the winding stem, and the Moly was still present and providing a slippery slope, it had not dried, run nor migrated into the works after three years… Hope 😯 I even used it in the MS, same scenario.

Ach zo, I’m working on a Waltham currently, this watch was completely bereft of any lubrication, even the jewels were dry, some showed the usual dry stain of the ghost of oil past, but this Wally was like the desert. Total metal on metal, not a good thing.
This being said, it was clean, it simply hadn’t been used by the previous owner and the lube had dried up or ran out.

The thing that I found interesting, and yes, I need to get a life 😆 Was the dry crust around the winding arbor/stem, it was hard, like dry glue, and clear. At the bottom of the arbor were equally dry remnants of the former lube, this was black, and was actually like melted plastic, it wasn’t though.

[chris mabbott]

So we have a bad scene going on here, metal on metal contact, especially on the high torque unit. The goal is to get the lube to stay put and not get squeezed out by the pressure of winding our little motor 😆
We can also see on the same shot, different arrow, that some uneven wear is beginning to happen on the gear teeth 😮 Obviously this is not a perfectly aligned & supported setup, so we can expect to see this as the stem has play that is transferred down the line. The only way that we could avoid it is if the winding stem had a tiny set of bearings installed, Hmm, a jeweled winding stem SAY NOW William 😆

BUT, with correct lubrication, something that stays put, this wear could be reduced or even greatly slowed down, although it is an imperfect system created by imperfect beings so what can we do….

[chris mabbott]

Continuing with our trip through the desert or is it dessert 😆

We can see the MS used to have something but now has NOTHING 👿 The something it used to have has, for some unbeknownst reason to myself, conglomerated in a hard nut like substance at the arbor end….WHYYYYY No wonder the MS broke into 4 pieces, wouldn’t you?
Arbor dry, barrel dry, cap dry, all dry dry dry 🙄

So for me, this is a cause to experiment, I desire that when your great grand kids work on a watch, long after my personal lubricant has dried up, that they will exclaim with joy, that ….. this sucker is still greasy 😆
By the way, I always carve the date into the barrel of when the Spring was changed…

[chris mabbott]

So what’s worse, too much or not enough? Who is to say how much is sufficient? I don’t recall ever seeing any study made regarding the effects of 3, 4 or 20 drops, on a watches time keeping ability?
What I have heard is a lot of speculation and talk, but no actual test result showing conclusively that more than the recommended 4 drops and 1 smear, adversely effects the springs ability to unwind.
If I’ve missed that article, I’m open to see it… From my own little playing around tests, on a perfectly accurately keeping time watch, that I purposely flooded with lube, grease, the result was… nothing, no difference in time keeping?? The coils didn’t stick together and the thing unwound fully..
This was just me messing about one night, kinda like now

But I just want to say, that I wasn’t taking any drugs during that particular experiment, it was a straighty 😆

I do normally perform the concentricity/runout test on the barrels and I highly polish them for smoothness… so I’m not totally mad dogging it, over here woof..

So here’s the newly cleaned, tested and polished unit with it’s new alloy MS ready to go in. I gotta admit, I love these push in types, but in the same breath, I have to say that this waltham barrel design is kinda chintzy and a pain in the butt to put back together.

[chris mabbott]

As an interesting side note to the boring topic of grease, you can see in this crap photo, sorry about that, it was never intended for publication..

The black line around the wheel, lookey lookey, we got a cookie, it’s the same stuff that ran out of the winding arbor and has contaminated, NAY, infected the guts. This stuff is indeed like melted plastic (it isn’t plastic) in that it chips off. What kinda grease was Thaaat 😆
I can guarantee that this slowed down the watch as it was also in the teeth, I mean other than the broken MS..

Same kinda gunk can be seen as I took out the winding gear screws.. I mean really, look at that main wheel, that sucker is GOOOOLD :geek: it should gleam like the sun pobrecito..

[chris mabbott]

I’m going to try some teflon types of lube that I’m waiting to arrive, one wet, one dry, lets see how they hold up in my personal torture chamber 😈
Really, I’ve seen grease filled chain drive gear boxes that have been pulled out of underground mines, where they were buried 30 yrs previously in cave-ins or explosions, and the grease was still runny and good, so why not for a simple winding arbor/MS on a watch that spends the majority of it’s third life in an acid free, semi air tight preservation chamber bag that sits in a 19th century safe and only travels in my soft, warm, fairly smooth ride pocket once in a while 😆

[arutha]

Keep your eye out for greases with PTFE in it as this is the slippery component of Teflon. Even if the carrying agent dries out the PTFE or Teflon should continue to provide some form of lubrication.

[randy]

Mein Gott Christoff !!!!
I think you are seeing the reason for regular maintenance,….as many conventional as well as “modern” lubricants all have a life span.

I truly love the passion that you put forth in this craft…….

I’m w/Paul…the PTFE would last long after the “carrier” .

Take care brother…

Auf Wiedersehen !

Randolf the lessor……….

[chris mabbott]

Hey, thanks for the extra info boyz, your comments are always very much appreciated

UND, danke für die Deutsch mein bruder 😆

Randy, here are your awards that I pulled out for some light today
1914 EK1 & 2

[bernie weishapl]

Those are cool Chris. I assume you collect those??

[chris mabbott]

Haha, yes sir, apart from watches, medals are another one of my interests. Been collecting militaria since I was about 8 yrs old, all those war stories my grandfather used to tell me peaked my interest.. Now I just focus on Iron crosses, 1813-1957
The WW1 models are more interesting, there are literally hundreds of variations… 😆

[randy]

Bitteschoen Chris !

Wow….those are in nice shape….If I remember, there are different classes of the cross,…depending on the era as well as the accomplishment ??

[chris mabbott]

100% correct Randy, I’m impressed my brother, not many people, other than collectors and Latvian fake cross makers know that..

This set came from a vets family, it was probably a dress uniform set that was hardly used by the recip..
They either look minty new like these, or well worn like this one…
Either way, they all have a character and a story to tell, kinda like watches and clocks..

[randy]

I like history Chris, and especially the WWI-WWII era.
One part of may family on my moms side, are Ukrainian Jews from the Odessa area.
They are German, ( White Russians was a “term” ), residing in Russia.

My great grandfather Gearhart Fischer was a court reporter for Czar Nicholas II.
His brother, was taken from his dinner table and shot outside his house by Bolshevik troops.
That was enough for my G-grandfather,..he worked hard to get the rest of the family out before the revolution got into full swing.

These appear to be WWI era crosses,..and the “W” is for king Wilhelm….really cool that you have them.

Best.

Randy

[chris mabbott]

They’re very addictive to collect and to study, so many different designs, fastening methods, makers, jewelers and materials used etc Like the one above which is made of Brass or buntmetal.

I like the ones that would have been presented to a husband, son or relative by their family, they’re more personal and interesting. A lot of thought by the person purchasing the gift would have gone into it.. You could go into a jewelers and select one of many official makers, the top ones, those “approved” by the king were Junker, Godet & Zimmermann.. You could then select one of the many containers to present them in. Again, because national pride and patriotism were at a high early in the war, the selection was vast. This was the first time in almost 100 years that the Iron cross had been re-instated, an award not only for the officer class but for any man who met the criteria of bravery.

Here is one of those that were purchased for a family member, these would have been used for parade or dress uniform purposes, they were never worn in the field as they made nice shiny targets for British or French snipers 😮

This set is made by Zimmermann, a famous court jeweler of the period… He had so many different styles and variations that it took me almost 9 years to collect all but 2, which I’m still hunting for 😆

That’s exactly right Randy… The obverse of the EK 2nd class bears the initial FR, Friedrich Wilhelm and the date of inception.

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